Maryland’s highway work zones are getting safer, but new data shows that aggressive speeding through active construction sites continues to put workers at high risk.

Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller joined state transportation officials at an active construction site along state Route 4 in Prince George’s County on Tuesday. Across Maryland, she said, there were more than 1,100 work zone crashes in 2025, an average of about three per day, at times occurring mere feet from workers.

“It’s an unacceptable reality for Maryland workers. These numbers are real, and so are the consequences,” said Miller, a former transportation engineer.

The number of deaths resulting from traffic crashes is coming down across the country after an alarming spike during the first years of the pandemic. Nationally, fatalities in work zones jumped 34% from 2014 to 2023, according to the most recent data available through the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse.

In Maryland, overall traffic deaths dropped 18% between 2024 and 2025, and crashes in work zones came down 12% over that same time period.

But officials stressed Tuesday that even one death is too many, and said that speed camera data suggests that aggressive driving remains prevalent. Two people have already died as a result of 220 crashes in work zones so far this year, said State Highway Administrator Will Pines.

Two years ago, state lawmakers implemented a tiered structure for speeding fines in the wake of the state’s deadliest work zone crash on Interstate 695. In addition to linking higher fines to the most dangerous speeds, state officials also installed more cameras in work zones and increased highway patrols to beef up enforcement.

And data suggests that it’s working.

On average, cameras issued fewer citations per day for excessive speeding in 2025 than in the previous two years. Still, the number of violators was substantial, with more than 367,000 citations in 2025.

Nearly 500 of them were more than 40 mph over the legal limit. Cameras even clocked 19 drivers traveling more than 130 mph through a work zone, Pines said.

“That’s a death wish. Those are numbers we cannot continue to live with,” he added.

There were 1,148 work zones crashes in 2025, resulting in 449 injuries and nine deaths. These incidents “are not accidents,” said state Motor Vehicles Administrator Chrissy Nizer.

“They don’t accidentally ignore the signs, the cones, the workers who are out there doing their job,” she said of excessive speeders.

Dawn Hopkins of Flagger Force, a transportation control company active in work zones across the state, said that she’s seen drivers using their phones, eating and even putting on makeup while driving through active construction zones. Near misses happen far too often, she said.

“We are not just workers, we are people, real people,” Hopkins said. “We are parents, siblings, friends and neighbors. So when you see us out there, please pay attention.”